jesus [ bleep ] christ. i come on the news for two seconds and you want to -- every time i do an interview, a guy wants to open his [ bleep ] mouth. can't you [ bleep ] a routine here. go [ bleep ] yourself, you know what. >> oh! oh! yeah, that was andrew dice clay being interviewed, for some reason, on the now defunct cnn-fn by allan chernoff, who definitely would have been better off holding a fish standing in a boat. we're holding out for some moderate to extreme obama and baoehner are face-to-face. they troo to stave off the fiscal cliff. >> susan rice out of the running.

the president's u.n. ambassador gives up on her hopes to be next secretary of state. >> and bullets fly as the camera rolls. video captures the moment shots ring out aboard a train. good morning. welcome to "early start" this friday morning. i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> we have breaking news this morning. it's a big development in the fight against syria and a new level of u.s. involvement. we just learned within the past few hours the defense secretary leon panetta signed an order sending two patriot missile batteries to turkey. that's to assist that nation in defending against any pollible military action by syria. this move was expected as the civil war in syria destabilizes the assad regime with each passing day. in addition to this, 400 u.s. troops are going to turkey. they will be deployed to operate the missile batteries.

cnn's nick payton walsh has the development. >> reporter: good morning. 400 personnel will be accompanying the batteries. let me give you history. over the past two months, we saw sporadic exchanges of fire across the border. syrian military firing into turkey causing often destruction and death. turkey often responding. that brought about this request to nato for patriot missile batteries. they're supposed to be there. this particular type better at taking out missiles in the sky rather than taking down aircraft. but this move part of a nato response. also supplied by germany and holland whose parliament last week approved their contributions. the u.s., though, of course, putting a number of people on the ground. many observers saying that now nato has physical troops and presence in the area that it risks somehow being dragged into this particular conflict. everybody is stressing these are purely there to defend turkey, a staunch nato member. john? >> they still come as the u.s.

offered diplomatic recognition to the rebels in syria and with 400 u.s. troops there, it does give the u.s. some skin in this game. >> reporter: absolutely. i don't think the troops will be involved. skin in the game, certainly. the obama administration though many say caught between two different sides here. at the same time, the day before they gave some kind of lower level diplomatic recognition to the syrian government. the day before that they were a terror group, one of the more hard line parts of the rebel front responsible for many victories, considered islamic hard-liners. to many degrees they're heroes because they've been taking out so many regime outposts. the u.s. response in the past, 48 hours. significantly more complicated. and now as you say, skin in the game. >> nick peyton walsh, watching all the developments going on. thank you. and now the fiscal cliff. there is little progress and a whole lot of frank.

here's what we mean. in 18 days we go over the edge triggering tax hikes and sweeping cuts. last night president obama called john boehner and asked him to meet again at the white house. they spent a little less than an hour ago. was it a good talk? was it a productive talk? afterward, both side said they called their discussion frank and said the lines of communication remain open. that to be frank doesn't seem to get us anywhere closer to a deal though. dana bash joins us from washington. speaker boehner plans to go home to ohio today. >> reporter: that's right. he is on his way if not there already. and, you know, you talked about the word frank that was used by both parties, by the white house and by the speaker's office. just like they did over the weekend they put out identical statements, really one sentence statements. diplomatic terms, frank means not so good. and that's the same word that the speaker used a couple days ago to describe their meeting on sunday which we understand from

sources was pretty tense. just the fact that they only met for 50 minutes is indicative of the fact that the meeting didn't produce very much. now i understand from democratic sources earlier in the day yesterday that they were going to try to invite the speaker over to the white house to get things moving before he went home to ohio to perhaps put a few of the spending cuts that the speaker has been demanding on the table to try to, you know, cut a -- break this deadlock. doesn't seem like they got very far. >> we've had dead locks before in washington and they've, you know, with much pain been resolved. you talked to two former senate majority leaders from opposite sides of the aisle on how to make a deal. what did they say? >> talk. i mean it's as simple as that. just keep talking. you're right, these were two people who were on opposite sides of the aisle leading the senate for six years together. trent lott the republican, tom daschle the democrat. here's what they said about the

art of doing something really really tough. >> there will come a moment when the speaker is going to have to, you know, make a decision on that and the president is going to have to make a decision on what he's going to do in return on spendingment but th. but they need to do it in concert. you have to have the winds and the brass come together. >> hold hands and jump off the cliff together? >> yeah. it will be more fun on the way down. at least you have company. >> and i have to tell you, just in the halls of congress talking to lawmakers all day long every day, there is really a lot of angst and not a lot of optimism that they're really going to get this deal done. and that really is a big, big difference between what i covered those two men in the last decade and what's going on now. used to be you used to stand in the hallways and wait to see when the deal would get done and what would it look like? and now it's will the deal get done? and it really is a different kind of atmosphere.

>> reminds me kind of the government shutdown in '96. will it happen? it will never happen and then it happened and then got resolved. dana bash, thank you. >> to be frank, not very good news. the other mammoth news, of course, in washington, the stunner from ambassador susan rice. she'll meet today with the president after taking herself out of the running to be the next secretary of state n a letter to the president, rice said, the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly to you and our most pressing national and international priorities. that tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country. president obama talked about her decision last night. >> i hadn't made a decision about who would be my next secretary of state. there's no doubt that susan was qualified. there are other people who are qualified as well. her interest is in serving me but most importantly in serving the country. and she's done an outstanding job. she will continue to be one of the top members of my national

security team. >> rice drew heavy criticism from republicans over her statements after the attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi in libya when she said the violence started over anger about an anti-muslim film. the attack now known to be terror, killed u.s. ambassador to libya chris stevens and three other americans. in five minutes we're going to talk about now who is in the running to be the next secretary of state. i think the short list is down to essentially one. >> there will be a funeral service in st. louis today for dallas cowboys football player jerry brown. he died in a suspected drunk driving accident on saturday. his teammate and friend josh brent was behind the wheel. police releasing this new video of the wreck as well as 911 calls they received in the moments after it happened. >> i don't know. i just drove past it. it's like it just happened. the car was up side down and there was smoke everywhere. >> josh brent is free on $500,000 bail. he's facing intoxication manslaughter charges.

>> philadelphia police are searching for two young men involved in a shooting aboard an elevated train. this incident caught on tape. video captured a confrontation between a few young men who were arguing over a baseball game. that's when one of the suspects as he was leaving turned and fired a gun, a handgun into the train. wow. look at that. two people were wounded in this attack. >> celebrations on the streets of pyongyang, north koreans clinking beer mugs and dancing on sidewalks following the country's first successful launch into space. even the supreme leader got into the act. the north korean government releasing this photo of the launch as leaders in washington, tokyo and seoul all call for punishment insisting that successful deployment moves north koreans one step closer to being able to launch nuclear weapons across the pacific. >> so the basketball game between bloomington south and arlington high would be a

disservice to blowouts. the two girls took the field and when it was over, bloomington high came out on top 107 to 2. >> must have been something wrong with that scoreboard. >> that's a difference of 105 points. aim assured here. the arlington girls could only manage two free throws the entire contest. now as you can imagine, the bloomington coach, the coach that scored 107 is taking a lot of heat online for piling on. some people calling for him to be fired. >> you're the sports guy. if you're winning and team is good, do you keep scoring the points? >> i'm a dad, if my kids were ever on the side, it would break my heart. that's all i can say. i guess i just took sides. in the 8:00 a.m. of "starting point," sowe're goingo talk to the arlington team. she's going to talk about what it's like to lose a game by 105

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no prescription needed. the attack over benghazi leads to a shocker. susan rice is taking herself out of the running. she'll not succeed secretary of state hillary clinton. she explained in a letter to president obama saying the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly to you and our most pressing national and international priorities. that tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country. those words from susan rice. foreign affairs reporter is in washington with the latest. susan rice meeting with the president today. >> that's right, john. they'll be meeting with the president and her -- president obama said and her aides tell me that ambassador rice will stay at the u.n. and that she'll continue to be a very close adviser to the president and the president's cabinet.

you know, some of the aides said she was up for the fight with the senate. she was up for defending her possible candidacy but they did the math, john. they saw that these attacks had stopped benghazi, they morphed into other areas. they felt it detracted from the more successful work she did have at the u.n. such as getting really tough sanctions on iran and really fighting for action in libya, u.s. military action to get rid of muammar qaddafi. let's take a listen to what ambassador rice said yesterday about why she resigned. >> i withdrew my name because i think it's the right thing for the country. i think it's the right thing for the president. and putting those things together, that makes it the right thing for me and my family. >> so she'll stay on the team, john, and some people say that she could have a future role in the administration, a different role later on. >> they've been fairly explicit she could end up as national security adviser one day and

then perhaps this four-year term get another shot at being secretary of state. as for who will be the next secretary of state, the short list seems to be essentially down to one person. >> that's right. one person who the senate has said would be easily confirmed. it's their colleague senator john kerry. the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. senator kerry is seen as someone who's really has a lot of stature in the world. he's been doing foreign policy for many decades. if you remember, he was one of president obama's kind of mentors during the debate process, prepping him for debates. and he's seen as someone who has relationships, john, around the whole world with world leaders, someone that really could be very effective in u.s. diplomacy. >> he made it clear he wanted this job for a long, long time. >> no secret. >> you know, massachusetts, that's where senator john kerry serves. he would have to give up his seat there. there is a lot of talk about who would succeed him.

what would happen up there? >> that is one of the considerations in whether they would tap senator kerry for the post. the front-runner for that seat is scott brown. he's a former senator from massachusetts who just won his re-election. so i think that the administration was loathe to give up the senate seat. but they did pick up a couple seats for the past election. so if they do pick senator kerry, they feel they can live without it. he made no secret he wants the job. and practically the entire senate said he'd be easily confirmed and an excellent choice. certainly president obama would love to get that behind him. >> that's right. there would be a special election in massachusetts, 145 days after kerry gives up his seat and scott brown easily the front-runner in that race. thank you very much. it is 17 minutes after the hour this friday morning. let's get you up to date with the morning's top stories. president obama, house speaker john boehner going face-to-face behind closed doors of the white house again. with 18 days remaining before america goes over the fiscal cliff, there is still no sign of

a deal. both sides calling yesterday's talks frank and insisting the lines of communication remain open. a man fatally shot himself inside a clerk's office at the federal courthouse in birmingham, alabama. the u.s. marshal service says he worked in the building and slipped a gun past security because he used an employee entrance, not a public one. visitors have to pass through metal detectors. police say no one in the courthouse was threatened. so the university of miami has apologized for a text mess an gaffe sent over to emergency notification network. it warned of a black man on campus and what he was wearing. that text raised eyebrows as there are many black men on campus. the complete text should have said that was the description of a man wanted for stealing a student's laptop. it was a game of hot potato thursday night. the eagles had a punt blocked by their own teammate. they lost at home to the bengals. they drop to 4-10.

cincinnati keeps play-off hopes alive by improving to 8-6. >> that was awful. look out for the bengals. they can play some football. all right. it is 18 minutes after the hour now. time for "early read." we're revealing the story in the chicago sun times where one lawmaker is proposing fines as high ased 1 e$1,000 and six monn jail for pigeon feeders. he said he's tired of seeing parts of town being seen from a movie from "the birds." he said bird droppings a quarter inch thick in some spots. there are cull pretties that feed the birds three or four pounds of bread four times a day. one of these feeders is known as the pigeon lady. all right. get back here with my driveway. police arrested a man accused of stealing someone's driveway.

brick by brick. the neighbor called deputies reporting two people with truck removing the bricks. about 300 square feet of them are gone and a few days later they came back for more. police found 40 to 50 bricks in the bed of the guy's truck. i once did a story abouthe landscaping that kept disappearing from people's houses. they would put brand new landscaping in, like a 200 tree and the next day it is gone. >> that is fairly aggressive though, stealing someone's driveway. for a look at all of our top stories, head to our blog. you can also follow us on twitter. you should follow us on twitter and facebook. just search for early start/cnn. >> one more way -- >> don't tell me any more ways. >> there are a lot of ways the fiscal cliff is going to cost you. what happens to your paycheck if there's no deal in washington? you're not going to like it. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all?

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call or click today. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios you're looking at new york city right there. >> is that ice rink? >> i hope they're not skating now. that would be spooky at 5:30 a.m. skating. that's a nice shot. and they'll be skating over the course of the day. it is your lucky day. why? christine is minding your business this morning. >> stock futures are up a little bit. worries of the fiscal cliff are still around despite upbeat data

yesterday. mildly positive data in the u.s. the s&p 500 snapped a six-day winning streak yesterday. in part because still concerned about progress in the fiscal cliff. if congress fails to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff, more than two million long term unemployed americans will see the federal jobless benefits disappear come january 1st. long term employed, those out of work for 40 weeks or more currently make up 40% of the unemployed population. many will lose federal benefits. they serve as a life line to many of the people that have been out of work for so long. and of all the fiscal cliff issues, there's one that many middle class americans will certainly feel right away. that's the payroll tax holiday. comes directly from your paycheck and funds social security. for the first two years they've been paying a rate of 4.2%. in 2013, that rate is set to go back up. someone making $50,000 a year will see $19 less in their

take-home pay per week. payroll tax cut, a small piece of a fiscal cliff puzzle would have a direct, direct effect on your paycheck, folks. >> but this is the payroll tax cut. it wasn't really part of the fiscal cliff issues. this is happening independently. >> it is. but the president would like to continue the payroll tax holiday. and you're hearing some mumbling around from some people on the right that they don't want to raise taxes on anybody. so there's some soul searching going on the payroll tax cut and whether that would stay or go. two months ago, i would have told you no way it comes back. now, they're talking about it again. i'm on the edge. >> in their frank discussions. >> yeah, in their frank discussions with open lines of communication. >> which have been very frank, frankly. police caught on the trail of a hot ready reported stolen and this does not end well. watch the dramatic conclusion coming up. if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time from your desktop or mobile phone.

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the u.s. says they will send missiles and troops to the area but not to the rebels. >> a white house one-on-one as the fiscal cliff looms. president obama and speaker boehner meet again 18 days to go. >> push comes to shove on the floor of parliament. how this brawl broke out between members of the same party. it's not even partisan bickering. this is the same party. >> that's depressing. >> the good news is it's not part of the big ring.

it is 30 minutes past the hour. >> our breaking news this morning. a major development in the syrian civil war and the new level of u.s. involvement. overnight defense secretary leon panetta signed an order sending two patriot missile batteries to turkey to assist that nation in defending against any possible military action by syria. this move was expected as syrian civil war destabilizes the assad regime with each passing day. 400 u.s. troops are going to be deployed to operate these missile batteries. turkey, of course, borders syria and thousands of rebels and refugees from syria have fled to turkey for safety. president obama and house speaker john boehner meeting for nearly an hour yesterday evening in a fiscal cliff showdown. with 18 days remaining before we go over the edge, both sides are saying that "lines of communication remain open." most of us have been stressing over the thousands of extra dollars you may have to fork over to uncle sam next year.

along with sequestration come sweeping spending cuts, too. here's cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. >> reporter: to hear the pentagon tell it -- >> sequestration, therefore, if it were allowed to happen, would introduce senseless chaos. >> reporter: the fiscal cliff -- >> sequestration will have a chaotic infect on the force. is akin to armageddon. >> what i worry about is being blindsided by a huge cut because they don't have the strength or the courage or the guts to do what they have to do. >> happy holidays. >> reporter: the cliff would cut $500 billion in defense spending but spread out over the next ten years. would these cuts really be that bad? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: analyst ben freeman says the pentagon can survive on a smaller budget. >> sequestration happens, it will drop a little bit. it's certainly not catastrophic or doomsday or any of other sort

of high penitentiaryb hyperbole. >> reporter: perhaps the navy has to buy less advanced fighter jets. or the pentagon would have to cut the number of soldiers and marines back to the levels before 9/11. >> sequestration would risk hollowing out our force. >> reporter: pentagon officials say going over the cliff would actually leave them a trillion dollars in the hole because it comes on top of cuts they have already budgeted for. >> we've put in place $487 billion in savings over the next ten years. >> reporter: are these cuts the same sort of budget cuts that you and i think of when we think of cutting our budget? >> i call them phantom cuts. it's not a real saving. >> reporter: freeman says the pentagon is counting money that it was projecting to spend as savings. which he says, isn't the same as simply spending less. >> but this is the way d.c. does

math. it's unfortunate that you and i can't do our taxes like. that but it's the way they seem to do business here. >> reporter: a senior defense official admits that everyone at the pentagon from the secretary on down is on autopilot to defend their budget. even though he feels that they need people to go in and challenge their costs, he argues that's better done over time, not forced on them by the fiscal cliff. chris lawrence, cnn, the pentagon. ambassador susan rice meets with president obama today after making a stunning announcement. she's out of the running to succeed outgoing secretary of state hillary clinton. few republicans criticized her over statements she made after the attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi. the attack known to be terror killed the u.s. ambassador to america, chris stevens. she made television interviews and said it appeared to come from an andy islam film.

>> the mall outside portland where a gunman killed two people on tuesday, a third person krit ukly hurt. the gunman jacob roberts took his own life. his motive is still not clear. roberts' aunt raised him after his mother died and calls herself his mom. she says he lost his way after an injury. >> jake was going to be a warrior. he was going to be a hero. and he was going to join the marines. and then he broke his foot and he couldn't be a marine because he got five pins in his foot. so he couldn't be a marine anymorement and then he lost purpose. he lost, like -- that is what he was going to do. >> there will be a candlelight vigil tonight outside the mall. dramatic dash cam video of a police chase in south carolina that had a deadly ending. deputies pursuing this mustang

earlier this month after it had been reported stolen. they say the driver 27-year-old brian madden lost control after trying to take a curve at 26 miles ahour. he was ejected and his passenger had to be airlifted to the hospital. so there is nothing like a good political fight. but this one turned into a brawl on the floor of ukraine's parliament. the scuffle apparently broke out after members of the opposition party accused two of their members of planning to defect to the ruling party. that's dramatic. >> here we don't talk to each other in washington. it's not clear whether it's diet, medicine, or genetics, japanese are still the healthiest people on the planet. the top four healthiest countries for men are japan followed by singapore, swins land and spain. the u.s. is tied with norway for

29th place. japan tops the list for women, followed by south korea, spain, and singapore. u.s. women finished 33rd in the tie with astona. >> we have to get ahead of astonia. >> all right. barbara streisand talking romance and politics with piers morgan. the hollywood icon says she's never been in love with a republican and never could be. she's a big president obama supporter and says the one thing that makes her proudest is his support for women and barbara streisand has a particular woman in mind to succeed the president. >> well, we're one of the last countries to ever think of having a woman be president. but i think that's possible now. but it wasn't years ago. >> do you think hillary is likely to run? >> i don't know but i hope after a four-year rest that she would run because she would be a great

woman president. >> piers asked barbara streisand to name the greatest actor she's ever seen. her answer, marlon brando. good pick. >> i would say so. the unseen victims of a growing epidemic in this country. coming up, prescription drug abuse and the impact on people who never even pop a pill.

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community in kentucky that is witness to this devastation. >> reporter: if this town could talk, it would describe a simple, idyllic life. a proud people. it would also whisper a sobering story about an epidemic that is tearing apart family -- >> i lost my dad and uncle to drug abuse. >> reporter: after family. >> i lost both my uncle and cousin to years of pri xripgs drug abuse. >> reporter: after family. >> i lost both my mother and my grandmother to drug abuse. >> reporter: it is not uncommon to hear stories like this day in rock county, kentucky. >> you're constantly hearing of someone dying because of abusing prescription drugs. >> reporter: this 16-year-old avery bradshaw knows the story all too well. >> my grandpa, he just set me down and told me that he was

gone. >> reporter: when avery was 7, his father overdosed on oxy could the in. his mother was in and out of his life. >> the hardest part of growing up without a dad is, like, not having that model family that you always see. >> reporter: he's lucky enough to live with his great grandparents. in this town, that model family is being redefined. >> this is happening in rockcastle county every week. it is happening in eastern kentucky every day. it's leaving our communities in shreds and we're left behind to pick up the pieces from that. >> reporter: karen kelly is the executive director of operation unite, a community coalition devoted to preventing overdose deaths in kentucky. in fact, kentucky is the fourth most medicated state in the nation. it has the sixth highest rate of overdose deaths.

and one county alone -- >> half of the kids have no parent in the home whatsoever. so now we're seeing many raised by great grandparents because we've lost an entire generation of young people. and, you know, the kids are really the ones paying the biggest price. >> it's stressful for kids and it's really an emotional thing. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> i asked him before why are doctors prescribing all of the very heavy, heavy medications so frequently? there are so many prescriptions being written. you have to also wonder why are we taking all these drugs? why are doctors prescribing all the drugs? >> thanks to sanjay for that really sat sad piece. it is a one way mission all the way to the moon. nasa's plans for a big crash coming up. if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone. victor! victor!

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it is 48 minutes after the hour. let's get you up to date on the morning's top storiesment still no sign af deal in the fiscal cliff showdown. president obama and john boehner did meet for 50 minutes yesterday behind closed doors at the white house. both sides called the talks, john, frank. both said it was frank. and they said the line of communications remain open 18 days before higher taxes and

spending cuts kick in. frank in washington means nothing happened. >> can we get beyond frank? we've had enough frank so far. >> frank, you're not invited to the next meeting. >> that's right. >> investor susan rice meets with president obama after announcing she's out as contender for secretary of state. she took herself out of the running in a letter to president obama. key republicans blasted rice over statements she made after the siege on that u.s. mission in benghazi in libya. it is known to be a terror attack. four americans including the u.s. ambassador to america chris stevens killed in that attack. students in georgia don't get degrees, their schools risk losing dollars. they fund higher education based on graduation rates. this new policy could force public colleges and universities in georgia to improve student performance. that's the goal. mission accomplished on the moon. so now a pair of robotic twin probes which have been mapping the surface of the moon are set to be destroyed. nasa's plan all along. they're running low of fuel. on monday the probes will crash in a a mountain.

>> thanks, robots. an 85-year-old great grandmother in iowa has finally achieved a personal goal. she earned her ged. earlier this week lois houselog walked across a community college stage and finally earned her diploma. >> it's really exciting for me because it's something i always wanted to do and never really felt like i had the time. i hope that people would be inspired by my story. i don't need it. but it's something i wanted. >> houselog says a lot of kids her age didn't go to high school because there was no school buses and the nearest school is seven miles away. the hardest part of the test is math. i hope she had an awesome graduation party. >> i will tell you, as an iowa native, some of the smartest people i know are people who, you know, maybe dropped out of school to work on the farm. never really got the chance or didn't go to school. smart, smart, smart.

and now she's got the ged to show it. >> good for her. meet cliff the beagle. cliff is the first bacteria testing dog in the world. he can sniff out a highly contagious bacteria called c-dip. they can spread quickly through hospitals. they kill at least 14,000 americans each year testing for the infections is time consuming. but cliff's sensitive sniffer can detect the toxin in seconds. when he finds an infected spa e patient, cliff just cops a squat. >> cliff sounds cool. >> he sits down. he sits down. pete is showing me what that means. >> nice to hear about cliff. thank you for that. that does sound cool. stormy weather right now in the southwest. >> who is showing people how to cop a squat? >> i thought what does that mean? then pete very helpfully -- our floor manager shows me. >> love you, but -- good morning, guys. hey, video -- who says it doesn't rain in san diego? folks who live there yesterday

are like yeah, it does. they got a month's worth of rain in -- well, less than a couple hours. this happened. swift water rescue teams are out. rush hour was a nightmare. the water in some cars was up and over past the wheel wells. so a dangerous situation there with some thunderstorms being reported across southern california. also thunderstorms being reported yesterday in las vegas. that was the 25th day they saw thunderstorms this year. the record is 26. so a lot of thunderstorms in vegas. you had record rainfall of a quarter inch in san diego. you had 1.56 inches of rainfall. yuma, you had record rain as well. the rain in through phoenix. it is snowing through flagstaff, getting into the grand canyon as well. this system will slowly spiral its way into the four corners and bring with it more in the way of some heavy snow. some of it will be over the san juans of southwest colorado. they'll take that fresh powder, for sure. the south side of the system will have wind as well with

winds gusting to 60 miles an hour. ahead of that, warm and sunny. a nice chill in the air to get you in the mood for the season across the east coast. that's a quick check on weather. "early start" coming right back. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ i tell them dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and multiply. polident is specifically designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way

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welcome back. 56 minutes past the hour, christine romans along with john berman. taking a look at the top cnn trends on the web this morning. >> we're talking baseball. big moves overnight. the ankles landing tangels sign hamilton to a five year, $125 million deal. they stole him away from the texas rangers. hamilton joins a lineup that has

albert pujols in it, they signed him last off-season and the best young player in the game as far as i'm concerned, michael trout coming off one of the best rookie seasons in decades. here's the thing, the angels need pitching. they already scored a ton of runs. the last thing they need is another big hitter. this may not happen them. >> $125 million, five years, it's worth it, right? >> i would say that is money i would take. >> you know what? i'd take half that. >> the elderly woman that ruined a 200-year-old jesus fres he could in a church. she is now decided to start selling her own art. 80-year-old put her latest creation on ebay's spanish website. the painting is currently attracting bids of about $1,000. money from the winning bid will reportedly be donated to a roman catholic charity. so that 15 seconds turned into a full minute. >> best in bloated art. all right. talk about putting people on the spot. a couple of students at byu, they had a little fun this

holiday with students staging a fake christmas survey underneath some surprise mistletoe. it came down sort of from the sky. they managed to get a few pecks out of it and one open palmed slap. check this out. >> is that mistletoe. >> yeah. >> like over the door? >> yeah, i guess so. >> no. >> or would you. >> would i? >> yeah? >> i've never done it. >> but you would do it? >> i would do it. >> okay. >> whoa. hey. >> merry christmas. >> thank you. >> well, all right, i'll go for it. >> okay. great. >> whoa! >> i wasn't sure about the kisses. it looks like they were going in for extra. and that one, boom. >> i just keep walking.

all right. nobody is safe from late night hosts, not taylor swift or the l.a. lakers on honest abe. check out last night's best zingers. >> today's taylor swift's 23rd birthday. taylor says she wants to spend a quiet evening at home breaking up with someone. >> doctors in pennsylvania are reporting that some therapy dogs can predict death. have you heard about this? this is unbelievable. the dogs can sense if someone's dying and they won't go into that room if someone is dying in there. in fact, the other night two of the dogs are standing outside the lakers locker room. they wouldn't go in. >> hbo is planning a new movie similar to game change but based on the 2012 election. yeah, the network said they're not sure who will play mitt romney and then mitt romney was like, hey, i'm not doing anything. >> steven spielberg's movie "lincoln" had the most nominations of any film this year, seven.

"lincoln" was nominated for best director, best actor and best beard without a mustache. >> he is nominated for a song he wrote for "magic mike." he spent a lot of time making sure the words all rhyme, all rhyme, all rhyme. >> all right, "early start" continues right now. breaking news this morning on the war in syria. the u.s. now committing missiles and troops to the region. president obama and speaker boehner face-to-face. boehner face to face. the president and the speaker trying again in person to stave off that fiscal cliff. susan rice, out of the running. the president's u.n. ambassador, gives up on the hopes to be the next secretary of state. good morning, welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. zoraida is off this morning. >> i'm john berman. 6:00 a.m. in the east.

we do have breaking news. a major step by the united states concerning the fight against syria. we learned overnight that leon panetta signed an order sending two patriot missile batteries to turk turkey to assist. this was expected as the civil war in syria continues. 400 u.s. troops will be deployed to operate these missile batteries. just over the border from syria. nick payton walsh joins us from beirut. what is the latest? >> precisely where the batteries are going to be. hundreds of u.s. troops there to assist in the operation. two from the united states, germany expected shortly to approve two battery of its own with hundreds of germans to assist their operation and also holland contributing to. let's give you the back story. in the past few months,

exchanges of fire, accused of shelling into turkey, causing destruction and death. turkey firing back. leading to turkey asking nato, which it's a member to send this kind of assistance. patriot missiles good at taking out missile shells and usable against aircraft too. a significant move by nato. now they have substantial hardware on that volatile border and, of course, would you have heard secretary of defense leon panetta's comments that the united states has contingency plans in the event they see the assad regime preponderancing or using chemical weapons. a significant move by the u.s. >> that's right. hardware and skin in the game with 400 u.s. troops. nick paton walsh, thank you for joining us. president obama going face to face in the white house again, and the stakes could not be higher with 18 days to go until we go over that cliff. trigger massive tax hikes, spending cuts and house set to

go home for the holidays today. yesterday, president obama telephoned spoker boehner, and both sides called the constitution frank and said "the lines of communication remain open." senior congressional correspondent dana bash joins us live from washington. house members scheduled to break for the holidays today, but they've been told they may have to stay late, yet speaker boehner plans to go home to ohio. they have airports and phones in ohio. but where is the urgency around this? >> that is a great question. really actually is stunning. with regard to the house, they were told that they should come back at a moment's notice, and also told -- i was informed by several republican lawmakers not to make plans for christmas. so you have this meeting yesterday. it was done at the last minute by the president to try to jump start things, but as you said, both sides said that the meeting was frank, which in washington

speak, mostly dip lo speak means it didn't go that well. i spoke to a democratic source who said there was no new information, new no offers on the table. just a discussion of what each side has to do to reach agreement which is very surprising, given the fact it's not a secret what both sides need to do. republicans need to give more on revenue. democrats need to give more on spending cuts and that's what they have to do. >> you own a small business in america, you are trying to figure out how you will do your payroll in the beginning of the year, software changes that take more than a couple of weeks. for some, they are assuming we are going over the cliff. they won't be able to get it together in time for the first paychecks in january. you talk to two former senate majority leaders from opposite sides of the aisle who know how to tuesdayle and make a deal. tell us about that. >> trent lott, and tom daschle, they have tussled over many

things. balanced budget in 1996, welfare reform, you name it. but they admit things are very different now. politicians is a lot more divisive. both men predict there will be a deal, just a matter of when. >> i feel hopeful at least that they will come to an agreement. there is an argument you don't want to make it too early, because that gives people that may not be too happy more time to undermine it. so the tempo and timing is important. >> i've heard people say in the last couple of days, republicans and democrats, that the time has come to put our country ahead of our party and that's really what it's going to take. putting the country ahead of the party. >> putting the country ahead of the party, again, for democrats that means biting the bullet, saying, okay, we're going to cut entitlement spending. for republicans it means biting the bullet. what people on the fill say frankly privately they say it

will happen anyway to give into the president on the wealth increases, maybe not up to prebush era percentages of 36%, but everybody has a really good idea of what they need to do to come to compromise. a question of where they are on the deadline what people can swallow politically. >> i just got an e-mail from a political strategist, watches washington for business. he calls this the most incompetent, dysfunctional, gridlocked, constipated congress ever. and no chance that the fiscal cliff deal can be completed by christmas. prospects are fading for a framework by new year's eve. people who have been watching this for business, who have been upbeat until now, say it's just a mess. >> it really is a mess. all sides dug in. and i laugh there, but it obviously is not funny it would be funny if it wasn't so serious. if it was a movie, you wouldn't

believe it. >> ha ha, not funny. ha ha, just unbelievable. in the next half hour, we'll talk about the fiscal cliff infighting within the republican party when we are joined by tony perkins, president of the family research council. other big news from washington, the stun forever ambassador susan rice. she'll meet with the president today after taking herself out of the running to be the next secretary of state in a letter to the president, rice said the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly to you and to our most pressing national priorities and that tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country. >> i made a decision about who would be our next secretary of state. susan is qualified. her interest is in serving me, but most importantly to serving the country. she will continue to be one of the top members of my national security team.

>> rice true heavy criticism over her statements on attack of the u.s. mission in benghazi. she said the attack, you will remember, killed u.s. ambassador to libya chris stevens and three other americans. signs of process. a nuclear arms talks between the united nations and iran. inspectors from the u.n. international atomic energy agency are asking for access to the suspect parshan military site southeast of tehran. no word on if they are making progress there. more meetings expected to take place in mid-january. a hearsay brought the remains of jenni rivera to a mort wear in long beach, california, last night. fans lined up outside to pay their respects. the remains were identified through dna testing. the spanish singer and possibly six other people were killed when a private plane crashed in mexico. the company that owns the jet is a defendant in two other lawsuits.

could be a year before we have the results. and police say 23-year-old nicholas wieme, taking pictures on a hotel's famous onion shaped rooftop dome, when he became wedged in the chimney it took firefighters hours to get him, but he was pronounced dead 45 minutes after they were able to free him. >> awful. not exactly political statesmanship. a political fight turned into a brawl. pushing, shoving, punches. it started after members of the opposition party accused two of their members of planning to defect to the ruling party. i guess the good news, it's intra-party bickering, not partisanship here in the ukraine, like we have here in the u.s. >> wow. at least they are talking. >> yeah. if you believe the doomsday scenario in the mayan calendar, have you a chance to squeeze in the vacation of a lifetime. people are flocking to the

yucatan peninsula, not so much to witness the end of the year, but to take in the rituals of the mayan end of the cycle of time. >> judging by the number of hotels being built and tour operators being created, we can tell there is a lot of expectation. a few hotels in town are giving discounts, because it's the end of the world. >> good advertising for the mayan ruins. >> it turns out to be a great business strategy. >> look at the beautiful pictures. some pretty beautiful stuff down there. even if the world ends on the 21st, it would go out with the party to end all parties. >> that is the good news. if the world ends, i think it's good to go out with a party. >> but don't spend all of your retirement money. >> good advice. coming up, surveillance video captures the moment shots ring out on a train. chilling, chilling stuff. i'm done!

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[ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. breaking news right now out of california. a powerful earthquake hit off the coast. hearing it was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. about 137 miles south/southwest of san clemente island, california. and 140 miles south of st. nicholas, california. on baja california. rob marciano joins us. >> at this point, 25 minutes ago, two reports of earthquakes. one a 6.4 as you mentioned. another a 6.1.

both just off the coastline by about 100 miles or so. the smaller one, a little bit closer to the coast. these are strong enough and certainly close enough to be felt in not only baja california, but san diego area, likely the islands off l.a. and also l.a. proper here, likely no damage with this. and also no tsunami warnings have been issued with this. typically anything below a seven sun likely to trigger that. an active area where the pacific plate bumps into the north american plate. nothing new for folks who live in southern cal. anything over a 6 is enough to wake up the masses and i'm sure our viewers have felt it. a 6.4 magnitude quake and 6.1, 1 100 to 150 miles. off the california and mexico border here just about 25 minutes ago. we'll replay the reports to up. >> if you felt this, felt something, can you tweet

us @earlystartcnn. tweet what you are seeing and if you felt anything. thanks, rob. >> all right. other news, washington is still abuzz this morning from the diplomatic shocker, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, taking herself out of the running. will not succeed secretary of state hillary clinton. she explained it in a letter to president obama. she said, the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. that tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country she said. we have the latest from washington. and susan rice is going to meet with the president today. >> she is going to meet with the president today, john. she spoke with him yesterday before she sent that letter, obviously, a very disappointing day for susan rice. really, her whole life had helped to be secretary of state. i talked to some of her aides yesterday. they said she has been thinking about it for several weeks. she was up, she thought ultim e

ultimately she could be confirmed. after things started piling on beyond benghazi, they did the math and they think susan rice had a very good record at the u.n. she was instrumental in passing sanctions on iran, on pushing for u.s. action in libya, and a lot of other things and they feel this was not only a distraction for the president, but a distraction for her work at the u.n. let's listen to what susan rice said yesterday about why she withdrew her name from consideration. >> i didn't want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive. because there are so many things we need to get done as a country. >> and, john, the president said and rice's aides said she will go back to the u.n., continue her work. a lot going on as you know.

not just on syria, the ongoing crisis there. but efforts to get some sanctions against north korea and a lot of other hotspots, john. >> and they've made clear at the white house, she has a role moving forward, maybe one day as national security adviser and maybe secretary of state down the line. the next secretary of state? that could come in the next couple of days, and there seems to be a short list right now of one person. >> senator john kerry, who has made no secret that he wants the job, and his colleagues in the senate made no secret that he would be easily confirmed. as this was going on with susan rice, a lot of people floated john kerry's name that he would be a suitable candidate. he has a lot of world stature, a lot of relationships with world leaders and is seen as someone who can do delicate diplomacy and has in many years of the obama administration been going

out as of a kind of quasienvoy in areas of afghanistan, pakistan, stirra at one point, so certainly he has the chops for the job. over the next couple of days, we could see a nomination. >> all right, elise labott, thank you very much. police in philadelphia searching for two young men involved in a shooting on an elevated train. this confrontation was over a basketball game. one of the suspects as he was leaving, turned, fired a handgun into the train. two people are wounded there. the lawsuits are starting to snowball from the spinal meningitis outbreak. the boston area pharmacy is facing at least 50 federal lawsuits in 9 states. 37 people died and more than 500 sickened after gettingsteroid injections. the company thatrepared them

is said to have been negligent. a disabled vet received aboard a delta flight last year, christian brown lost both legs in afghanistan. on the flight, he was clumsily wheeled to the back of the plane, humiliated according to a fellow vet. when others tried to have brown moved to first class, the crew refused to allow him to move up to first class. they said they had to keep the aisles clear and get the plane going. and in a statement, delta saidith investigating the incident and holds service members in high regard. but clearly another military member on that flight wrote a sort of scathing, scathing play-by-play of what happened and said it was just unforgivable. >> a shame. just one more way the fiscal cliff could cost up what happens to your paycheck if there is no deal in washington. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste.

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that is new york city, folks. sitting right in the middle of the now. lovely lights of new york. the financial capital of the world. we're lucky because christine is minding your, mine, all of our business this morning. >> minding your business. stock futures up slightly this morning, worries about the

fiscal cliff persist. they undermine any kind of small gains we get. s & p 500, snapped a six-day winning streak because of those concerns about the fiscal cliff and despite modestly updated business data. congress failed to reach a deal on the cliff? 2 million long life term unemployment americans will see jobless benefits disappear the first week of january. another million will lose them the next week. those who are out of work 40 weeks or longer, that make up 40% of the unemployed population. as you might expect, federal jobless benefits, a crucial lifeline for those who have been out of work 40 weeks or more and are waiting for the economy to start create enough jobs to absorb them back in call it the payroll tax cliff. of all of the tax issues being negotiated, one many middle class families will feel. the payroll tax holiday. money that comes directly from the paycheck it funds payrolls

and social security. the last two years, workers paying a rate of 4.2% of their earnings, up to 110,000 or so into payroll taxes. in 2013, the rate will go up to 6.2% on wages up to $113,000. take a look at this someone saying $50,000 will see $19 per less in take home pay per week. only a small piece of the fiscal cliff puzzle. year end, all of the things changing, but could affect your paycheck immediately. the one thing you need to know about your money today? have you noticed, have you noticed, everyone, gas prices falling 22 straight days now and many think they will continue to go down the rest of the year. according to the automobile association, the average price for a gallon of unleaded falling to $3.29. a 4.2% decline since november 23rd. good news for you hitting the road for the holidays. >> we complain, complain,

complain, complain, when gas prices go up and never say thank you when they go down. >> still higher than they were last year at this time. >> so you're still complaining. does the republican party have a brand problem? coming up, we'll talk about that when we are joined by tony perk perkins, president of the family research council and talking about the future of the gop and much, much more. carols in background ] aunt sally's singing again. it's a tradition, honey. [ singing christmas carols ] mmmm. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands! cinnamon rolls. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] yes, it is. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink.

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and econ 101 as the fiscal cliff looms. president obama and speaker boehner meet. show of force. the u.s. says it will send missiles and troops, but not to the rebels. tough call for susan rice. president obama's u.n. ambassador said she took herself out of running to be the next secretary of state. welcome back to "early start."

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans in for zoraida sambolin. a lot going on. leon panetta signed an order sending two patriot missile batteries to turkey to assist that nation in protecting itself from military action by syria. in addition, 400 u.s. troops will be deployed to operate the missile batteries. turkey borders syria. thousands of refugees have fled to turkey for safety. al qaeda remains the most significant threat facing america today erin burnett sat down with the defense seblcreta in kandahar. >> you can reach a point where you so significantly weaken al qaeda that, you know, although there may still be a few people around, they won't be able to

conduct the operations that they have conducted in the past and they certainly won't be able to plan the kind of attacks that america had happen to it on 9/11 and that's our goal to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> you talk about al qaeda and where it is -- >> panetta went on to tell erin we have to go after the group in yemen and somalia. president obama and speaker boehner met again behind closed doors this week. with the house set to skip down for the holidays today, no sign of a deal. here is what both sides are saying, calling yesterday's talks frank and insisting the lines of communication remain open. john. >> despite secretary boehner and preside other leaders taking a hard line, others are saying that the

latest infighting is going strong since the election last month, many are saying the party has a branding problem. we want to bring in tony perkins, president of the family research council to talk about the future of the republican party. no deal, a stalemate, and the speaker taking a hardline on taxes. have you been up on capitol hill this week. what are you hearing from people inside the party? >> i'm hearing that unless there is spending cuts -- are spending cuts, there won't be revenue increasing, measures taken or supported by republicans. >> you don't think there's a deal any time soon? >> the american people, a wall street journal poll shows 2/3 of the people say, yeah, we could use more taxes, but they need to be coupled with spending cuts. i think people realize that we've come to a point if we continue to kick the can of fiscal responsibility down the road, we're going to end up kicking the can as a country. >> can i ask you, would you be willing to deal with new revenue, tax increases? >> i think most americans would.

i don't think they are totally opposed to closing loopholes if you will. bottomline, it's a tax increase. >> what about the top two -- two tax rates? >> i think when you look at that, you have to realize that includes a lot of small businesses, in fact, the bulk of small businesses which are -- small business is the biggest employer in this country. so i think that's problematic for the economy. it's selling well for the president to go around, let's get the top wage earners. those are small businesses that employee people. >> let's talk about the republican party in general. senator jim demint to leave to go become head of the heritage foundation. a lot of republicans didn't shed many tears when he left. demint a tea party favorite. some say a hard lifeline conservative. is there a division between tea party members and other republicans? >> there was cheering on both

sides. conservatives think him more effective at the heritage foundation and the establishment cheering, at least for the short term, that he's out of their hair. he did challenge the establishment, which is -- look, you look at the last two presidential elections, republicans put forth moderate candidates, and they lost. moderates don moderat moderat moderates, the grassroots and the base of the party, if they are going to be successful, they have to return to the founding principles, not retreat. >> conservatives lose too. todd akin lose, murdoch lose in indiana. conservatives lose too. >> no question, a bad cycle for republicans and you mentioned todd akin and richard murdoch, we're prepared for some of the tough issues and how to talk about the issues successfully. other candidates have

successfully talked about them. >> let's talk about the solution of certain issues. 51% of americans support gay marriage, 6 of 10 young people support gay marriage. ballot box, three states approved gay marriage, other states allow it. is there an evolution in this country right now? >> over 40 states that have marriage defined in their state laws as a union between a man and a woman. 30 have gone to an effort of placing it into their constitution. four states voted on it this time, which traditional marriage did not prevail. i hardly think that what we saw in this election is a -- is a consensus, as some have described on same-sex marriage. look, 40 years ago, and coming up next month, will be 40 years of roe versus wade, those under

29 hailed that as a great decision by the court. that same age category, 18 to 29 tonight, are more pro legal than their parents. >> have you been in the news dealing with ups because of the boy scouts. ups are pulling their funding for the boy scouts because they will not allow gay members to help run the boy scouts or inside the boy scouts. why did the family research council do this? >> the boy scouts for over 100 years, as part of their moral code, has challenged boys to be straight and upstanding citizens. >> straight? what do you mean by that? >> their code is morley straight, they not engage in sexual behavior that they keep themselves morley conditioned and mentally sharp and that's their code. they have had this policy long running for good reason and to have an organization say, look, we won't give you money unless you change your longstanding policy to come in line with our

values. and i had a conversation, we had a private conversation with ups and said, wait a minute, why are you doing this? this is a long-term policy that the boy scouts have had. why are you taking your money away we have a right to you give money to those who reflect our values. >> the company isn't interested in true diversity but in strong arming anyone who disagrees with their extreme agenda, including a century old youth development program, whose only crime is instilling character into millions of american boys. some people could suggest that not allowing gay members, how does not allowing gay members instill character into boys? >> look, when you look at who charters boy scout troops, over 2/3 are chartered by churches, that's where they host their meetings, the values that run parallel to the boy scouts. what have you is you have a few corporations, major corporation who's are saying, look, unless

you abandon a century old value set, we're not going to give you money. and the -- some things don't change with time. the boy scouts are one that have laid down a marker and said we will continue with what's worked for our boys and continue to produce young men who make good citizens. >> tony perkins, thank you for coming in. appreciate it. police in malaysia have made a dent in the illegal trade of elephant tusks. they seized a shipment worth $20 million. it was headed to china, where elephant tusks are in high demand. poachers slaughter thousands of elephants in order to get the tusks. salvation army workers in oklahoma found a wedding ring in one of their red kettles, but they don't know if the ring is really a generous donation or if it slipped off someone's finger, someone could be really upset right now that they don't know where the ring is. they are giving the owner 90

days to come forward. after that it's considered a donation. suffering through a losing season in the nfl is bad enough, but blocking your own punter's kick? more on last night's bizarre play, coming up. >> you're not supposed to do that. this holiday, share everything. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. shareable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid incredible 4g lte by htc for $49.99.

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friday morning. soledad is here with a look what's happening on "starting point." >> lots to talk about. especially as the house is scheduled to end its session today. no deal on the fiscal cliff, even if the president and speaker bayne espeak speaker boehner reach a deal, will is there time to approve it before the end of year. we'll talk to philip brederson

and dan glickman. >> a high school basketball game, score 107-2. a national discussion about sportsmanship, fair play, the mercy rule. at what point, too many points on the board there? should the coaches have called the game or just let the score get that uneven? we'll talk to members of the losing team and their coach about their philosophy about what happens next, and we visited that school in indianapolis. we've had a lot of changes. >> did you play basketball with them? >> i did not. a new movie, called "aledgeance." about national guardsmen who expected parttime duty and were thrown into years long deployments in iraq. >> it's friday. >> yes, i'm struggling with a head cold, really ready for a

weekend. susan rice taking herself out of the running to be the next secretary of state. she'll meet with president obama at the white house, and a few criticized rice over statements she made over the u.s. mission in benghazi, it killed four americans, including u.s. ambassador to libya, chris stevens. celebrations breaking out in pyongyang or staged, unclear. toasting with beer mugs and dancing on sidewalks after the first successful satellite launch into space, even though the u.s. says that the north koreans might not have control of that in the moment. kim jung un got into the act. this photo of the launch, as leaders call for punishment, insisting that north koreans have moved a step closer to be able to launch nuclear weapons

across the ocean. eagles fumble the ball four times, one interception, and the worst part of all? this. they had a punt blocked by their own player. all this in a 34-13 loss at home. eagles lost to 4-2 and cincinnati kept their playoff hopes alive. i know are you not a big football fan, but you are not supposed to block your own punts. >> i feel bad for that guy. i bet they really razzed him or didn't even talk to him. >> stormy weather in the southwest. rob marciano. don't you feel bad for him? >> i don't think i've ever seen anything like that hey, it's the eagles. better luck next year, guys, we'll be rooting for you, or at least most of us. the chargers in san diego, got heavy rain yesterday, that we showed you last hour, and i

think i'm going to show it to you this hour, anyway, it's wet. here you go. and rain up to the wheel wells of cars. in san diego, that's more than a month's worth of rain it slowed down this car and several others across parts of southern california. san diego record, 1.5 inches. yuma not a record. a half an inch. that's a lot. vegas, quarter of an inch of rain. that's a record, and yesterday, their 25th day reporting thunderstorms around las vegas area, and the record is 26. rather stormy year for the folks along the strip there. rainfall across parts of southern california. raining in phoenix, snowing heavily in flagstaff, snowing at the grand canyon and places like the four corners and san juans of southwest colorado. probably get a good dumping out of there. a foot of snow expected in the mountains of new mexico. several inches if not a foot of

snow. and a pretty potent one. out to the plains, pump up the heat across the southern plains. temperatures well above normal. east of the mississippi. temperatures where they should be. comfortably chilly. sunshine coming up. should warm things up. clear night last night if you got out to see the geminid meteor shower. chicago, 49. not too bad to do your mid december christmas showers. >> i saw the meteors before i went to bed and when i woke up. >> his kids ran in, dad, dad, you can't miss this. >> good stuff if you could brave the chill. >> thank you, appreciate it. coming up, we'll introduce to you a remarkable young man using talent to turn the heartache of cancer into an inspiring legacy.

welcome back. good morning. a story of a brave young man who lives in minnesota. only 17 and not expected to see 18. >> he has terminal cancer. he's accepted his fate, but he's leaving for his family and friends a beautiful, musical legacy. here is ed lavendera. >> reporter: zach sobiac's soul is filled with lyrics racing against time to get out. ♪ . >> reporter: three years ago, zach was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that targets teenagers, he has had ten surgeries, endless chemo therapy and mostly bad news.

zach's doctor has told him he only has months to live. his mom suggested he start writing good-bye letters to family and friends. >> i am awful at writing. i can't sit down and write a letter. i've tried. i decided to pick up my guitar and started playing music. this is fun. >> reporter: that's how his song called "clouds" was born. a good-bye to those he loves. >> you want to leave a melody behind? >> i do. >> reporter: and you think that will help them cope? >> it's kind of me always being there for them. like if they keep saying that song throughout their whole life, i'll be right next to them the whole way. >> reporter: zack can't stop writing lyrics, so many songs he wants to leave behind. >> you have to live life fast. you can't really put on the brakes at all. i can't wait for anything. and so that's kind of like one of the things when people say hold on, we have to wait for this. i say i can't. let's go. tomorrow, what are we doing?

>> reporter: zack is 17. a senior at stillwater high school. he goes to class, but told his teachers, he wouldn't be doing homework this year. making to graduation would be a gift. i haven't seen you stop smiling. >> it's -- why not? why not. might as well smile. >> reporter: zack wants his song "clouds" to raise awareness about childhood cancer. but for his family, the lyrics are a constant reminder the end is near. >> he makes you cry. it's the lyrics and having him actually articulate it and say this is what it is and this is what i believe. it's a tough thing to hear from your kid. >> he's leaving a legacy behind and inspiring so many people, and that is more than any of us will ever be able to do. >> reporter: when you look at your friends and your family and your sisters, what do you think? >> in all honesty, i'm sorry for them. because i get to leave, and i

don't have to deal with any of this, but they have to keep up with it and deal with it. >> reporter: turning the heartache of cancer to unforgivable melodies zack's final wish on the long good-bye. ♪ it won't be long now >> reporter: ed lavendera, cnn, lakewood, minnesota. >> feeling life, living life intensely right now. >> one brave kid. his videos on youtube have received hundreds of thousands of hits. lovely and you can see them if you visit our website. up next, we have some best advice from olympic gold medalist gabby douglas, and on "starting point" new developments on the war in syria. the u.s. making a major new commitment to the region. yeah. let's go. samsung galaxy s3 -- over fifty dollars less than best buy! wow! fifty bucks! yeah! that's a pair of shoes. see for yourself if you could save on the gifts you want. walmart. see for yourself if you could save on the gifts you want.

why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

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weekend for morning tv. we wrap up with west ahebest ad. >> this morning, gabrielle going to lass. >> the best advice was don't ever quit, keep pushing and fight little for my dreams. >> one of the most fearless competitors of the world, when we asked her to film that -- >> she was a little nervous. really thought about what she wanted to say, and said never quit. but there is a girl who almost quit and came back and won gold. >> i can't imagine her ever being nervous. that is it for "early start." i'm john berman. nd